St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-12-10

RRooKLYS, December 4.-This is Sac
,amental dav in Brooklyn Tabernacle.
he more than four thousand communl-
cant members and many strangers from
I'll narts of the world make it memora-
Vic scene, New members were received,
and some of them were baptized tins
morning.
The CONGREGATION. led by organ and
cOrnet, sang:
Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood
Shall never lose its power.
Till all the ransomcd chHrvh al Npi
BE, saved to sin no more
The Rev. T. Dewitt Talma-e, d. d.,
Preached. His subject WAS "Salutation
from the Chariot, and his text, Ii Kings,
chan. 10, V. - as thine heart right
With mettlcd horses at full speed, for
he was celebrated for fast driving, Jehu,
the warrior and king, returns from bat
tie. But seeing Jehonadab, an acQuaint-
ance. by the waysidc, he shouts "N hoa .
whaaw to the lathcrod span. Then
him in the words Of the tcXt-WOrdS rot
more appropriate for that hour and that
Mace 1han for this hour and place.
Is thine heart right: should like to
hear Of your physical health. Well, my
self, like to have everybody else wei ;
and so mi.rht ask, Is your eyeSiGht right,
your hearing right, your nerves RIGHT,
yonr l;ngs right, your entire body right?
But am busy to-day taking diagnosis
Of the more important spiritual con-
ditiOns.
should like to hear OF your financial
welfare. | want everybody to nave
plenty of money, ample apparel, large
storehouse, and comfortable residences;
and might ask. Is your business right,
YOUR income right, your worldly sur
rorndinrs right? But what are these
financial questions compared with the
inquiry as to whether you have been
able to pay your debts to God; as to
whether YOU are insured for eternity; as
to whether YOU are running yourself bythe
lonr-crcdit system Of the soul? / have
known men to have no more than one
loaf of bread at a time, and yet TO own
a government bond Of Heaven worth
more than the whole material universe.
The question | ask you to-day IS not
in regard to YOUR habits. | make no in
,uiry about your integrity, Or your chas-
tity, or your s0hriety. | do not mean to
stand on the outside Of the gate and ring
the bell, but coming up the steps | open
the door and come 10 the private apart
mcnt of the soul, and with the earnest
ness Of a man that must give an account
for this DAYS work, | CRY out, Oh, man,
oh, woman immortal, is thine heart right:
| will not insult you by an argument to
prove that we are by nature all wrong.
If there be a factory explosion, and the
smoke stack be upset, and the wheels be
broken in two, and the engine unj olnted,
and the pOnderOuS bars be twisted, and
man should look in and say that nothing
was the matter, you would pronounce
him a fool. Well, it needs no acumen
to discover that our nature is all atwlst
and askew and unjointed. The thing
doesn't work right. The biggest trouble
we have in the world is with our soul.
Men sometimes say that though their
lives may not be just right, their heart IS
all right. Impossible. A farmer never
puts the poorest apples on the top of his
barrel; nor does the merchant place the
meanest goods in his show window.
The best part of us is our outward life:
| do not stop to discuss whether we all
fell in Adam, for we have been our own
Adam and have all eaten of the forbid
den fruit, and have been turned out OF
the paradise of holiness and peace; and
though the flaming sword that stood at
the gate to keep US out has changed posi-
ton and comes behind to drive us in, we
will not 60.
The Bible account of US is not exag-
gerated when it says that we are poor
and wretched, and miserable, and blind,
and naked. Poor: the wretch that stands
shivering on our doorstep on cold day
is not so much in need of bread as we
are of spiritual help. Blind: why, the
man whose eyes persisted in the powder
blast, and who for these ten years has
gone feeling his way from street to street,
is not in such utter darkness as we
Naked: why, there is not one rag of ho-
illness left to hide the shame of our sin
Sick: why, the leprosy has eaten into
the head, and the heart, and the hands
and the feet and the marasmus of an
everlasting wasting away has already
seized on some of US.
But the meanest thing for man to dc
is to discourse about an evil without
pointing way to have it remedied.
speak of the thirst of your hot tongue
only that | may show you the living
stream that drops crystalline and spark
ling from the Rock of Ages, and pours {
river of gladness at your feet. If show
you the rents in your coat it is only be
cause the door of Gods wardrobe nov
swings open, and here is a robe, white
with the fleece of the Lamb of God, anC
of cut and make that an angel would
not be ashamed to wear. If snatch from
you the black, moldy bread that yot
are munching, it is only to give you tn
bread made out of the finest wheat tina
grows on the celestial hills, and baked il
the fires of the cross, and one crumb o
which would be enough to make al
Heaven banquet. Hear it, one and all
and tell it to your friends, when you g
home, that the Lord Jesus Christ ca
make the heart right.
First we need repenting heart.
for the first ten, twenty, or forty years 0
life we have been going on in the wron
way, it is time that we turned around an
started in the opposite direction. If W
offend our friends we are glad to apollo
gize. God is our best friend, and We
how many of us have never apologize
for the wrongs we have done Him!
There is nothing that we so much nee
to get rid of as sin. 1t is horrible blac
monster. 1t polluted Eden. 1t. kille